Protection
by in-umbra
Summary: When Leo and Raph get captured by Shredder, they try to find a way to escape. When Shredder takes Raph to fight alone with him and the henchmen, he returns with minor injuries and a bad leg. How will Leo escape with an injured brother, and not getting caught by the henchmen in the process? Mostly Leo & Raph fanfic with Donnie & Mikey in the background. NO TCEST WHATSOEVER!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys this isn't my first TMNT fanfic but I figured you guys would enjoy this one that I made a while ago. As always, please tell me if the characters are OOC so that I can fix it because I've been writing these fanfictions in private and got no one's opinion...anyway please enjoy. I sadly own nothing of TMNT**

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Leo's P.O.V.

I groan as I open my eyes and my vision was blurry. When it cleared, I sat up and looked around to see I'm in a jail cell. It took me a few moments to remember what happened. Raph and I were in a fight with the henchmen, and they somehow knocked us out.

Raph! I frantically looked around, and saw him knocked out in a corner. I quickly crawled over, and when I felt his pulse, relief washed over me. How did this night turn for the worse?

*earlier*

My brothers and I were on a rooftop, and I am just staring out at the city. I can hear Raph punching something, and who knows what Donnie and Mikey are doing. I was looking out for trouble, and I don't know why, but something feels off. I don't know what, but something's off.

"This is so boring!" Raph complained, and I turned to him. "I don't get why we're just sitting around doing nothing!"

"Relax Raph. I'm just scanning the city to see if we can find any trouble."

"Oh yea, and how is that working out for ya?"

"Shut it Raph!"

He rolls his eyes, and Donnie and Mikey walked up to.

"Maybe we can scan the city in groups?" Donnie suggested.

We all look at Donnie, and then at each other.

"I agree with Brainiac here," Raph says and Donnie face palms.

"Do you have to call me that?"

"Yes."

"Dudes, I think it's an awesome plan! What do you say Leo?"

I sigh. "Fine. We'll get in groups. Donnie and Mikey, take the south end of the city. Raph and I will take north. We meet back here in two hours."

Donnie and Mikey nod, and Raph rolls his eyes as an answer. When Donnie and Mikey leave, I motion Raph to move.

"Come on."

He follows me, and as we ran, I looked around for any trouble. As I did, the feeling that something's wrong grows stronger. I look around more often, but still nothing. Maybe I should see if Donnie and Mikey have better luck. I went to call them, when I hear a smack in the background. When I stopped and turned around, I saw Raph on the ground a few feet away from me, and I saw Rahzar, Fishface, and Tiger Claw. I knew it! But for some reason, the feeling hasn't gone away. Don't know why it hasn't. I pull out my katanas.

"So we meet again Leonardo!" Tiger Claw said.

"Yep, so it may be."

Raph moans as he walks up beside me.

"I'm soooo glad to see you guys," he says sarcastically.

"I feel the same way," Fishface smirked so his sarcasm is clearly showing.

Raph spent no time going for Fishface...as usual. Meanwhile, I was stuck with Rahzar and Tiger Claw. Rahzar wasn't really that hard to fight. It actually took me about two minutes to knock him out. Then Tiger Claw came up to me and our weapons collide.

"Leonardo, you and Raphael will fall!"

I took a glance over at Raph, and he was doing good with his fight. I glared back at Tiger Claw.

"Leave my brother out of this!"

I shove him and began attacking him again. Tiger Claw charges at me, and had me off guard. He punches me hard, and I fly across the rooftop. I groan as I hit the ground.

"Leo!" I hear Raph shout.

Tiger Claw kicks me hard again, and the last thing I saw is Raph going outnumbered against Tiger Claw, Fishface, and soon Rahzar.

*present*

I stare at the door and at Raph every so often. I'm afraid he might be really hurt after that fight that I couldn't see because I blacked out. I stood up, and I could tell my legs are either sore or fell asleep. I was walking around to stretch my legs out, when I hear a groan. Glancing over, I saw Raph stir, and I kneel right beside him. He opens his eyes, and looks over at me.

"Raph, you ok?"

He groans as he rubs his head, and I help him sit up.

"I...I think so."

"Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm ok."

"What happened?"

"Well...after you blacked out, I had to carry on the fight between Tiger Claw, Fishface, and Rahzar. Fishface and Rahzar were a challenge, but I was able to take them out. Then Tiger Claw came up behind me, and knocked me out."

I blinked. "Whoa."

"How long were you awake?"

I think for a moment. "Maybe like 5...10 minutes."

"Oh...how long was I out?"

"I honestly don't know Raph. I don't even know how long I was out."

He nods. "Oh."

I looked at the door and back at him.

"So are we gonna try to escape or what?" he asked.

"Well I'm certainly not waiting for Donnie and Mikey to rescue us."

He laughs. "Yea, they'll never let us live it down."

I go to reach for my katanas. "Oh crap, they probably took our weapons."

"No duh Sherlock," he rolls his eyes.

"Oh shut up Raph!"

He smirks at me and I stare at the door. Then I see Raph glare at it.

"I'm gonna punch it! See if I can try to get it open!"

He runs towards the door, and my eyes widen.

"Raph, no!"

But he was already banging on the door. This is NOT gonna end well whatsoever.

"Hey Shredder! You better let me out or I'll-!"

As if on cue, the door opens, and Raph jumps back as if it startled him. I watch someone walk in, and I felt my eyes narrow when I saw who it was. Shredder...but he wasn't alone. Tiger Claw was with him.

"I was beginning to think I hit both of you too hard. Clearly I was wrong," Tiger Claw said.

Raph is only a few feet away from them, and I'm on the other side of the room.

"We aren't that easy to get rid of cat man!" Raph snapped.

Tiger Claw gave him a hard glare "Say that again!"

"Cat! Man!"

Tiger Claw goes to attack him, but Shredder stops him.

"Now is not the time to attack Tiger Claw."

He didn't hesitate to nod.

"Yes Master Shredder."

Shredder then walks up to Raph, and Raph stood his ground. He also seemed to be protecting me.

"What do you two want?!"

"We will get answers from you, and since you're right in front of us, you get to go first!" Shredder says grabbing Raph's arm.

My eyes widen, and then narrowed. That's whenever I made the decision to charge.

"No! Let him go!"

Shredder slams Raph so hard into the wall, I thought Raph would fall unconscious for a second.

"Make another move turtle, and I will actually slam his head into the wall."

I froze as Raph struggles and actually tried to kick him.

"We have much to discuss!"

Shredder drags Raph, and I look at him worryingly.

"I'll be fine Leo. Don't worry."

And then the door slams. I won't be able to stop worrying or even sleep until Raph comes back.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: hey guys I'm having a sick day so I figured it would be a good idea to upload the next chapter. I am better than I was this morning but I'm still a little sick...hopefully this is just a 24 hour sickness. Also happy New Year's Eve:)**

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Raph's P.O.V.

"We have much to discuss!" Shredder says.

He begins dragging me out, and I struggle to get out of his grip. I also went to kick him, but failed. That's when I turn around to see Leo looking at me in worry and concern.

"I'll be fine Leo," I say so only he can hear. "Don't worry."

He drags me out, and Tiger Claw slams the door.

"Tiger Claw, take the turtle and meet me in my lair! I'll go call the others to come."

"Yes Master."

He grabs my arm, as I watch Shredder walk away.

"Come on turtle!"

"What are you gonna even do?" I ask, forcing mock out of my voice. "Kill me? Torture me by hurting my brother?"

"The master has plans."

He drags my arm, and we eventually reach the main room. By then, Shredder, Fishface, Rahzar, Bebop, Rocksteady, and Baxter Stockcar are there looking at me and Tiger Claw.

"Tiger Claw, what took you so long?!"

"The turtle was being difficult."

"Just don't let it happen again!"

"Yes master, I promise."

I finally rip my arm from Tiger Claw and glared at Shredder.

"So what do you want anyway?"

"Just a very simple question Raphael."

I cross my arms. "Lay it on me."

He's silent for a moment, and then he turns to me.

"I want you to tell me where Hamato Yoshi is."

The room got silent before my laughter broke it.

"You...you want me to tell you where I LIVE?! That is almost too funny! You honestly think I would easily tell you just like that!"

"You haven't heard the rest of the deal. You tell me where Hamato Yoshi is, and you and your brother will get out of here without any guards stopping you. If not, YOU will face consequences, and maybe Leonardo will face it too."

That took me back a little. I don't want Leo getting injured, but then my family will be in danger...and it'll be all my fault. I should be the one getting injured, not anyone else. Then something else came into mind.

"How do I know you're not lying? How do I know even if I did tell you where my family lives, that you would just keep my brother and me prisoner?"

"I am not lying."

"I kinda find that hard to believe."

Shredder walks up to me, and slices my arm. I grunt as I grip at it, but my glare never dropped.

"So what's it gonna be?"

"I think you know what my answer is! You aren't getting anything out of me!"

He's silent for a moment. "Very well."

He turns to everyone, and Rocksteady threw something at me. I quickly noticed they were my sais.

"Attack!" Shredder commanded.

I gripped my sais as everyone came towards me. Is this seriously what Shredder calls a "consequence"? This is just like candy for my knuckles, and tonight's Halloween. Everyone comes at me at once. I go to a handstand, a d do a roundabout of kicks.

Fishface comes at me, and I kick him so hard, he plunges towards the glass and falls through it and into the water.

Suddenly, I feel a deep pain go in my arm, and I look to see Rahzar behind me. I growl, ignoring the pain going in my arm, and charged at him. Then I hear a laser behind, and was able to move without looking.

I charged at Rahzar and it took several kicks and punches to knock him out. Then Bebop appears behind me, and I reacted quickly and put my sai in between his wrist.

I flip him over me so hard, that when Rocksteady was coming for me, they collided, and they both fell in the water as well. Oh, and Boxcart wasn't so hard to defeat either. All I had to do was punch him a few times, and that knocked him out. Now it's just Tiger Claw. I stood there, breathing heavy, with my sais pointed at both Tiger Claw and Shredder.

"Impressive," Tiger Claw slowly walks up to me. "But I can see you could've knocked them out so easily. Now, you will face me!"

I glared at him, and managed to catch my breath, before he charged at me. I charge back, and right away, he starts clawing at me, and slamming me into walls. I moan as I try hitting him, but he kept slamming me into things, and clawing all over my body.

Then I took control of the fight after he slams me into the wall for like the 10th time! My rage builds up and I grabbed ahold of him, kicked him, punched him, and slammed him right into the wall.

He's knocked out, and that's when I realized I won. But whenever I looked at the bruises and cuts Tiger Claw gave me, I knew it wasn't easy. I breathed heavily, and glared at Shredder.

"And now, you get to face me turtle! Unless of course, you tell me where-."

"No! I still won't tell you! I still won't tell you in a million years!"

"Very well."

He pulls out his gauntlets, and I know I'm in for it now. We both charge, and right away, he's already injuring me more. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna quit. Not even close. I charge at him, and he grabs me and slams me into the ground. He goes to make a fatal move towards my neck, but I roll out of the way, kicking him in the process.

At that moment, I realized all the henchmen were awake, and watching me. They are waiting for me to fall, but I won't let that happen. For my sake, and my family's sake. I take a step back, and went sprinting towards his head. I went in the air, when I felt this unending pain to my leg. Knowing that feeling, he stabbed me deep in my leg. I fall on my stomach, with the sound of my sais hitting the floor in the process, and I groan.

"Get up turtle and fight me!"

He's right. I can't give up because of an injured leg. I began pushing myself up, but my leg feels like its stabbing me a million times, and I fall again. Come on Raph! Get up! You need to get up! I finally get myself to stand, and I go to charge, but on the first step of my injured leg, I fall again.

"I think you got him Maaaassstttteeeer Shredder," Dexter Stockboy said.

Shredder looks at me, and I try everything to keep the pain out of my glare.

"Take him back to the cell Tiger Claw!"

"Yes Master!"

Tiger Claw grabs ahold of me and half drags me and half walks me back to the cell.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: hey guys before you begin reading I just wanted to wish you a late happy new year and that I'm feeling better. Also school starts Wednesday for me so I'm posting a chapter today and I'll try to post one tomorrow. Thanks for all the follows I really appreciate it:)**

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Leo's P.O.V.

I pace around the cell, worrying about Raph. I know he told me that he will be fine and not to worry, but how can I not worry?! He's in the hands of Shredder, and that's never a good sign.

Who knows what he's doing to him?! Ugh! If Shredder dare hurts Raph, I'll make sure I teach him a lesson! No one would DARE hurt Raph...or anyone of my brothers for that matter.

It seems like hours since I've been pacing, and it seems like more hours before I see the cell door open. I stopped my pacing, when I see Raph get thrown in, and the door slams behind him. He groans, and I automatically run over to him. His condition scares me. He is covered in cuts and bruises from head to toe.

"Raph, are you ok?!"

He groans as he pushes himself up into a sitting position.

"I'm fine Leo. I told you I would be."

"You don't look fine to me!"

"It's just cuts and bruises Leo. It's really not that bad."

I just stare at him, scanning for any other injuries besides the cuts and the bruises.

"What even happened out there?"

"Well Tiger Claw brought me into Shredder's lair, and then Shredder did something really stupid and a waste of his time."

"What would that be?"

"He asked if I would tell him where our lair is."

All I did was laugh. "Wow, he really is dumb!"

"Yea, and he said that if I told him, he would let us free without anyone stopping us. And that would be a good deal if our family wasn't in danger, but I figured he was lying. He said if I rejected his deal, I would face the consequences, and maybe you too...if he felt like it."

"What did you say?"

He gave me a stupid look. "Seriously? What do you think I said?!"

I face palm as I remembered he looked injured and Raph isn't that stupid. "Right, anyway..."

"So when I said no, he made me face with Rahzar, Fishface, Bebop, Rocksteady, Dexter Stickboy, and Tiger Claw."

My eyes widen. "By yourself?!"

Ok obviously Baxter Stockman wouldn't be that hard to beat up.

"Yea, and it was pretty easy...up until Tiger Claw."

"Was he the one who gave you the cuts and bruises?"

"Pretty much. Everyone else I wiped out in a minute."

I clench my fist. He is SO gonna get it!

"Is that all that happened?"

He nods. "Yea."

Slight relief washed over me. I guess Raph just got lucky in that fight. I figured he would be a lot worse. But the feeling of something not being right comes back to me.

"Alright, let's try to find a way out of here and get Donnie to get a look on those cuts and bruises."

Oh no! I forgot about Mikey and Donnie! They're probably worried sick about us! I don't even know how long we've been in here, but I know it has probably been more than two hours.

"Alright. I'm bored of this place anyway."

I nod as I let out my hand to help him up. He hesitates at first, but he grabs my hand and I yank him. He stumbles into me, but backed away.

"Alright, so start looking for a way out."

"Yea...I know that Fearless!"

I roll my eyes and began trying to find some secret passage or something. A way out. I know the door's an option...but that'll be too obvious. And if this place had windows, they would've probably locked it. They're not THAT stupid to leave the windows unlocked.

I sigh, and was about to check around more, when I hear a gasp, a grunt, and a thud. I quickly look over to see Raph on the ground with his eyes clench shut.

"Raph!"

I ran over and slid to my knees. He then looks up to me, and I can tell he's trying to hide the pain from his face.

"Raph, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine Leo," he grunts. "Just ran into a wall."

Ok I know something's up.

"Raph, a wall can't hurt you that bad. You've been slammed into walls and that made you more angry. So why would this time be any different? And don't say because of your cuts and bruises because even injured like that, you've been slammed into walls and that didn't bug you much."

"Well I didn't see it!" he snaps. "It just startled me!"

"I'm not buying it Raph! Now what's-?"

I stopped when I saw some blood on Raph's leg...and it wasn't coming from the cuts. It looked like it was coming from the back of his knee calf...well a little bit under, but still.

"Raph...lay your leg flat."

"It is flat Fearless!"

"I mean have it straight!"

He glares. "I'm fine! Now come on," he struggles standing up. "Let's find a way out."

I place a firm hand on Raph's shoulder and sat him down. I grabbed his bleeding leg and made it straight. When I saw what it was, my breath got caught in my throat. There was a really deep stab mark that was from the back of his knee calf, to his shin. It also looked like you can almost see the bone.

"Raph, what happened?!"

He glances at it, then at me.

"Oh hey, how did that happen?"

"Raph, I don't want your games! Tell me what happened! Did Tiger Claw do that?!"

"No he didn't."

"I'm done with the lies!"

"I'm not lying! Shredder was the one who did it, not Tiger Claw!"

He covers his mouth as if he didn't want me to know. But that didn't stop me to widen my eyes.

"Shredder?! You mentioned nothing about facing him! How did that happen?!"

"He saw I beaten everyone else, and thought it was a good idea to face me."

"But how did you get the injured leg?!"

"I just went to attack his head, and then he stabbed my leg when I was in the air."

"Why didn't you tell this earlier?!"

"Because it's nothing important!"

My anger finally snaps. "Nothing important? Nothing important?! Look at you! You can hardly even stand!"

"Whoa bro, calm yourself."

I grip his arm and yank him to his feet. Then he put as much pressure on his uninjured leg as possible.

"No! You're not the only one who's stress here Raph! I'm the leader! I'm the one who needs to protect you, but I can't if you don't tell me these things!"

"I don't need you to worry about every little injury I have!"

"Yes you do! You can hardly even walk, and if I found out after we escaped, it could be longer!"

"Oh, so it's my fault my leg is injured is it?!"

"What do you think?!"

"Then SORRY that I tried protecting OUR family!"

"How is injuring yourself protecting our family?!"

"It's not my fault Shredder decided to injure me! Also it's not always your job to protect all of us! We have to protect you too! You have to stop being the most perfect leader in the universe!"

"Shut up," I say calmly.

"No! You have to hear yourself! Hear what you're saying!"

"I said SHUT UP!"

I bring my foot out, and got him right in the injured leg. He screams slightly and grunts as he falls back on the ground. It took me a few moments to realize what I just did. My eyes widen as I see my brother in pain and heavily breath.

"Oh...oh gosh Raph!" I kneel beside him again. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?! Oh man Raph-."

"Shut up," his voice is so calm, that I was waiting for him to snap at me again. "Quit apologizing. That's all you do. You need to get out of the habit of doing that."

I'm confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...you always take the blame for everything. If you don't protect us, it's automatically your fault right? Well it's not. Besides, it's my fault for ticking you off."

"No it's not. I'm just under stress. You weren't the one who ticked me off Raph. It's Shredder. He's the one who injured you. I know you meant well to get injured like that but..."

"It's alright bro. I'm stressed too. Besides, I'm only injured all because Shredder didn't get his way of finding out where our lair is."

I sigh. "Man, Donnie and Mikey are probably worried about us."

"Crap! I forgot we went top sided with them and we were in groups. I only hope they don't rescue us without us escaping first. Then they will never let us live it down."

I laugh, with slight relief washing over me. At least his personality's still in tact.

"Let's hope," was all I said.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: hey guys it's me again...like I said I would try to post today. Now since school starts tomorrow for me (unfortunately), I figured I would give you a this chapter a little longer to hold you off. Now I won't be able to post tomorrow because I'm busy with school and a track meet, but I say I would try to post the next chapter either Friday or Saturday. Also I wanted to thank yukio87 for their feedback and note that I don't take any feedback lightly and really appreciate any feedback I can get. Anyway I'm going to shut up and let you read the story:)**

* * *

Mikey's P.O.V.

Donnie shoves something dusty out of the way and I cough.

"Man D, do you have to do that in front of me?"

"Oh shut up Mikey! I don't want to hear your complaining!"

"Dude, we've been looking at this abandon place for...how long have we been in here?"

D freezes and looks over at me. Then he pulls out his phone, and his eyes widen.

"Oh my gosh!"

My eyes widen. "What?! What is it?!"

"It's almost 11:30!"

"We're a half hour late! Leo and Raph are gonna kill us!"

"Yea no kidding! Now come on!"

Then, my ninja vibes kick in.

"Wait a minute D."

He slightly glares at me. "What Mikey?! What can be so important right now that we can't leave?!"

"If we were late, wouldn't either Leo or Raph call us and literally blow our eardrums out of where we were?"

D is silent, and then his eyes widen as if realization hit him in the face.

"Do you...do you think something happened to them?"

My eyes widen as I pull my phone out.

"Call Leo! I got Raph!"

We both dialed their numbers, and I feel like I've been hearing the same ringing for hours, until I got to voicemail. I hang up my phone, and looked over to Donnie, who was doing the same thing.

"No answer?" D asked me.

I shake my head. "No, and I'm assuming you didn't get an answer either."

"No."

We both look at each other for a moment, before D got back on his phone.

"D, what are you doing?"

"I'm seeing if I can track them down."

I nod once as Donnie stares at his phone. I waited anxiously for what felt like hours before Donnie's eyes were so large, I thought they would pop out of his head.

"D, what is it?"

He blinks and looks at me as if he forgot I was there.

"They're at Shredder's lair!"

Usually that won't be a big deal...I mean it would, but not that much. But if they didn't answer, that could be why.

"Did they get captured?"

"Probably. Otherwise they would've answered their cell or call us because we were late."

"True. Come on, we gotta get a move on!"

I nod as we leave the abandoned place, and towards Shredder's lair.

Raph's P.O.V.

We're still looking for a way out of here. Well...Leo's scanning every tiny spot, and he's forcing me to stay sitting. This is why I didn't want to tell him of how Shredder stabbed my leg. It makes me feel so helpless! But Leo does have a point. How can I help when I can't even stand straight? Well...I don't care! I need to help him. Crawling to a wall, I worked my way up, using little grunts as I can.

When I finally got up, I looked to see Leo not noticing. He's still looking at the same wall, like he was scanning it. I used my good leg to hop and look for any signs of a way out. Using my hoping, I'm trying to be as quiet as possible. Then suddenly, I saw Leo beginning to turn, nod I successfully made my way to the ground without making any noise to make him suspicious.

"Ugh! It's impossible!" he collapses on the ground. "There's no way out! No secret way or anything!"

"Hey!" I snapped. "Are you seriously giving up because you can't find a way out?!"

"I've looked everywhere Raph! Everywhere!"

"Yea, everywhere on THAT side of the wall! You didn't even look at the rest of the room!"

"Let's just face it Raph! I can't find a way out, and you can't walk!"

"Is that why you give up?!"

"Because you can't walk?"

"No! That YOU couldn't be the one getting injured! It was MY choice Leo, and you can't change it!"

"I could've!"

"Leo, just listen! It was either ME getting injured, or our entire family! What choice did we have of that?!"

"Well-."

"That's IT!" I work my way up the wall again. "If you're not finding a way out, then I will!"

"Raph-."

"I don't want to hear your 'you can't even stand or walk' nonsense!"

"But Raph-."

"Enough! I've had enough of this!"

"Raph, listen to me!"

I growl. "What?!"

"What does that say behind you?"

I froze before I look to see a word.

"Uh...it says exitus," I say.

"Exitus?" Leo asked.

"What does that even mean?"

Leo's silent for a moment before he speaks again.

"I think either Donnie or April told me that word before. I think it's Latin."

"Yeeea, but what does it mean?"

He's quiet again before his eyes widen as he stands up and walks over.

"Uh...I think it was escape."

"Exitus means escape?"

"Yea...which is ironic that its only on one block."

He pushes the block, and there was a little opening in the wall.

"Well...that's convenient," I say.

"Yes it is. Now come on, we need to go!"

He begins running, and I began following him, when the deep and sharp pain in my leg comes back, and I end up on the ground. I'm pretty sure both of us forgot about my leg. Leo turns around, and runs back.

"Shoot, I forgot all about your leg."

Called it!

"I'm fine," I say, trying to get up. "It just caught me off guard."

"You can't run Raph. I'll carry you."

"No way! Out of the question!" my voice sounded louder than I intended it to be.

"You can't even walk!"

"Gee, if I had a nickel for every time you say that!"

"I'm serious Raph! Your leg's gonna get worse if you keep putting pressure on it!"

"I don't wanna hear your stupid lectures! The more time you yell, the less time for escaping!"

"Well stop being so stubborn and let me carry you!"

I growl. "Fine! But if Donnie and Mikey see you doing that, I'm walking even if it kills me!"

He rolls his eyes as he helps me stand and I had no choice but to crawl on his back. This is just embarrassing! Then Leo went running, and I looked around for anyone who believes they found us. It seems like hours of Leo running through the long hallway before we reached the door.

"Alright," Leo says and I began to get off his back. "I'm not sure where this door leads, but I'm gonna look, and if it's clear, we'll go. If it's not, you're sitting out this fight!"

"Oh heck no!" I snapped. "I'm already injured, so it isn't gonna help if YOU get injured in a fight!"

"Stop being so stubborn! What are you gonna do?! Try to fight Shredder again?! Try to even injure yourself further?!"

"If I have to, yes!"

We both glare at each other, and I refuse to break it. I don't even know how long we were glaring, until there was a loud bang on the wall, and it made me jump and nearly fall. I bit my tongue to avoid screaming as I stepped on my injured leg. I glanced over to see if Leo noticed, but he just stared at the wall. Thank goodness he didn't see the pain I just had a moment ago.

"Do you think they know we're out?"

I look at him like he's stupid. "No, they would randomly bang on a wall for no reason."

He glares at me. "I don't need your sarcasm Raph!"

I roll my eyes, and there was the sound of yelling, but it was muffled.

"So what's the plan now, Fearless?"

"I'm still gonna look out and see how close they are."

I put my ear to the wall, and still heard the yelling.

"They sound close. It's like the wall is vibrating Leo."

Leo puts his head against his wall, and then nods.

"Yea, they do sound close. Ok, change of plans. We use ninja stealth...well I will. You will stay on my back."

I groan and he shoots a glare at me.

"Raph..."

I roll my eyes then crawled on his back. He slowly opens the door, and we look to see the henchmen just outside our cell door.

"How do you two idiots just let them escape?! The master was wishing to see Leonardo!" Tiger Claw was yelling at Bebop and Rocksteady.

I swear if we didn't fight that exit and those idiots walked in on us, I would've fought all 3 of them myself!

"It's not our fault!" Rocksteady said. "We weres busy with stuff!"

"What could you possibly-?!" Tiger Claw began demanding.

"We know they're still in building, so they can't be very far."

As much as I wanted to hear Tiger Claw yelling at Bebop and Rocksteady over their stupidity, I know we should keep moving so we don't get seen.

"Some time tonight Fearless!" I whisper.

He looks at me. "Oh, right!"

Ha! It's like he forgot we were trying to escape. Leo sneaked out of the door, and he went running down the hall. I can tell he was making his feet quiet, and I might've done the same if he was in my position. I glanced back to see Tiger Claw sniff the air.

"I smell turtles!" he mumbles.

"Uh...Leo?" I began to get off his back.

"Stay on Raph!" he whispers annoyed.

"But Leo-."

"Raph, I said stay on!"

I glanced back again, and I can tell that Tiger Claw has spotted me because even though we're hidden in the shadows, I can tell he's looking at me. He raises his gun and points at only me. For some reason, it was only pointed to me, not to Leo. He shoots, and if I wouldn't have notice, it would've hit me. It must be on silent on something. The laser gets closer, and I had no choice, but to let go, and tumble off Leo. The laser hardly missed Leo, and he stops. Then he looks at me, and I'm rubbing my head.

"Uh...what the heck was that?!"

He didn't sound annoyed at me at all. He sounded...scared or something. I glanced over to Tiger Claw, and Leo did the same.

"They found us."


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: hey guys I wasn't planning on updating until tomorrow but I got home sooner than I thought so I thought now would be a good time to update this story. I want to thank you all for reading it...I didn't think anyone would read or review but I'm so glad you guys are taking time to read this. Now to the reviewers from last chapter**

 **grungekitty: I read your review and realized that finding the secret tunnel at random didn't really make sense. My intention was that Leo and Raph were trying to find some vent or weak stone that led to some kind of way out. The secret tunnel was made by someone who was captured and never patched it up or something. I hope that cleared somethings up a little bit**

 **yukio87: I appreciate your constant reviews throughout the story. You're questioning when Leo will get his chance at Shredder's wrath...well it may or may not go the way you think, but that doesn't mean he's going to get a free bee either. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy this story:)**

 **Anyway, enjoy the next chapter...I sadly don't own TMNT**

* * *

Leo's P.O.V.

"Uh...Leo?" I hear Raph saying, and I can feel the weight slowly getting off my back.

"Stay on Raph!" I said an annoyed whisper.

"But Leo-."

"Raph, I said stay on!"

Gosh! Why does Raph have to be so stubborn?! It's bad enough he didn't tell me about his leg, and now he wants to go fight?! How am I so sure that I know he didn't tell me all of his injuries?

Could it be possible that Shredder hit Raph hard in the head?! Yes, yes it would! But why am I so worried? Raph is way too stubborn to sit back and watch...even with my orders otherwise.

All of a sudden, I feel weight immediately go off my back, and then there was a laser that was only inches away from me. I stop, and looked over at Raph against the wall, rubbing his head. Hm, maybe Shredder did hurt Raph's head...ok now I'm just being paranoid.

"Uh...what the heck was that?!" I asked, and for some reason, I sound panicked.

Raph takes his hand off his head and looks to his right. I looked over to do the same.

"They found us," he says.

My eyes widen as I see Tiger Claw standing there, and then I look back at Raph.

"That's what you were trying to tell me wasn't it?"

He nods and I face palm. I am seriously an idiot sometimes!

"Yes Leo, you are an idiot sometimes."

I look up, with a surprise expression on my face.

"Are you some kind of mind reader?"

He shakes his head. "No, you said it out loud."

"I did?"

"Well...more like mumbled it, but you still said it out loud."

I was about to say something, when I see Tiger Claw on the corner of my eye. Quickly reacting, I duck and then punched him.

"I don't know how you two escaped, but you won't get out of here."

"Thank again Cat Man!" I look to see Raph working his way up the wall.

Tiger Claw glares at Raph, and Raph did the same. Neither of them broke the glare, and I was the one who was awkwardly in between them.

"You want another fight with me Raphael?"

He growls. "Bring it on!"

Tiger Claw charges, and fear strikes me in the stomach. Raph is already bruised and battered, plus he has an injured leg. I already couldn't protect him when he had a fight where he was already outnumbered, so at least now I have an opportunity to protect him now.

Thinking quickly, I sprinted towards Tiger Claw and Raph, and Tiger Claw had his claws out. He was about to strike Raph, and I jump in front of both of them, and crossed my arms. Then I felt a digging pain in one of my arms, and I gritted my teeth.

"You are a fool Leonardo!" Tiger Claw said.

I glared up at him. "Maybe I am. But that isn't gonna change anything!"

I grip his arms, and flung him across the room. Then when I went to knock him out, Rocksteady jumped in front of me.

"Surprise! I will squish your head like the blueberry!"

I go to reach for my katanas, but I keep forgetting they aren't there. Oh well, I can still beat this guy no problem. I go to charge, when I hear a startled cry. Glancing over, I see Raph gripping his leg on the ground, and Bebop smirking. I forget about Rocksteady and charged towards Bebop.

"If you're gonna fighting someone, it's gonna be me! That goes for both of you!"

"You're really an idiot Leo!" Raph said, obviously still in pain, but I can hear the anger in his voice.

I completely ignore him, and they both charge at me. At that moment, I noticed Tiger Claw was charging at me too. When Bebop charged at me, I gripped his arm, and threw him hard at Rocksteady and Tiger Claw. They all shout in a startled cry, and hit the wall hard. I waited a few moments to make sure they were really knocked out, before I went running to Raph.

"Are you alright?"

"Yea, I think so."

"In that case...what on EARTH were you thinking?! You know you're too injured to fight Tiger Claw! Do you have ANY idea what could've happened if I hadn't came between you two?!"

"Oh, so what did you want me to do?! Back down from Tiger Claw, or be a coward?!"

"I don't know ok?! You just made the stupid decision to try and fight him!"

"And YOU made the stupid decision to fight those 3 alone!"

"Which took 5 seconds! And I'm not even injured!"

He glances at something, and then raises an eyebrow at me.

"What?!" I say.

"Your arm tells another story!"

I look to see two deep cuts on my arm, and they were bleeding. Then I looked at Raph and sucked in a breath.

"That's the last thing I'm worried about Raph. We need to get out of here while we still have the chance. Now come on, on my back."

He groans and I just glare at him.

"Alright fine!"

He gets on my back then I run. After about a million turns later, I reach the doors that lead to Shredder's lair. When I reach the door, I stop and began thinking of a plan to get out without getting detected.

"Fearless, what are you doing?"

"I didn't think this far ahead. Shredder could be in there. With no weapons or anything, that's our only exit. By now, Shredder should know we escaped."

"How do we know he isn't in there?"

"Do you really want to take that chance Raph?"

"If we use ninja stealth. Maybe open the door from the roof or something."

I glance up and see it as a possibility.

"Maybe we can...but Shredder would notice."

"Then how do you PLAN on escaping?!" he finally snaps. "Just wait for Donnie and Mikey or something?! We can take him!"

"You mean I can take him! You're in no condition to fight!"

"Well I'm certainly not letting you fight alone! I should be the only one who makes out out badly injured! Tiger Claw only got your arm, and we need to make sure it stays that way!"

For the second time, I briefly glance at my arm.

"It will stay that way. I won't let that happen, and I won't let you get more injured. That's a promise!"

"Yea, yea, keep your promises and open the dang door!"

I sigh. "Aright, we'll try your plan. But also look for where they're keeping our weapons."

"Deal."

Well, there goes nothing. I open the door slowly, and glanced in. Surprisingly, I saw no one in the room, but I know it's a trap. But getting Raph out of here is my main priority, and if it means getting caught again, so be it. Maybe if I find the tphones, we may as well get assisted by Donnie and Mikey. Still hanging onto the ceiling, I make my way into the lair. I looked at Shredder's chair and saw my katanas and Raph's sais.

"That doesn't make any sense," I whisper.

"What?"

"Our weapons are at his chair and he's not there."

"Leo, during my fight, they gave me my weapons. I didn't realize he could've kept them at his chair."

"Weird..."

I jump from the roof when we got close to Shredder's chair as possible. Then I glanced as Raph slid off my back and stands how he always stood, putting as much pressure on his uninjured leg as possible. I turn around and began to grab our weapons.

"Come on Leo! We haven't got all night!"

What's gotten into him?

"Raph-."

"Just give me my sais!"

A please will be nice...but nevertheless, I grabbed his sais.

"Leo!"

"Here!" I give him his weapons without looking or glaring at him.

He snatches the sais, and I was about to grab my katanas, when there was a smack, a grunt and a thud. That noise made my heart drop to my stomach, and I quickly snapped my head around. I was expecting Raph to be on the ground, but instead I saw Shredder on one knee, and Raph was leaning on his uninjured leg, clutching his sais.

"I let you have that shot Raphael. I knew you were gonna do that. I don't know how you got out, but don't you worry. Both of you will give your location soon enough."

His voice was surprisingly calm...you don't usually hear it that often.

"Yea right! You just fell down the freakin stairs!" Raph began saying. "Also, you REALLY need to check those cells of yours...there seemed to be a...small mishap."

Shredder growls and mumbles. "I told those idiots to check those cells! I'll have to punish the later!"

Raph and I just looked at each other for a moment, before Shredder stood up and darkly chuckle.

"No matter...I only wanted Raphael to enjoy his...short victory before I do this!"

Before any of us can react or even think about what he meant, Shredder runs up to Raph, grabs him, and throws him down the stairs. He gasps in pain as he clutches his leg, and fear and anger rush through me. Fear that Raph is more injured, and anger that Shredder just did that to an injured ninja.

"Raph!" I shout.

I grip my katanas, and now that I look at Shredder, there is more anger than fear.

"I am assuming your pathetic brother told you about my plan!"

I growl. "He did, and I will NEVER tell you where we live! If you wanna injure me, go ahead! But it isn't gonna change my answer."

He slowly goes down the steps towards Raph, and fear comes at me again.

"Oh, I'm not gonna hurt you at the moment Leonardo."

My eyes widen as I quickly realized what he's doing.

"Tell me where your rat master is, or I will injure your brother and then end you!"

I froze where I stand...he is using Raph to get into my head. If he hurts...then...

"You aren't making him choose!"

I watch as Raph springs up, and tackles Shredder.

"Leo, now!"

This wasn't a plan, but because Raph just did that using his strength, despite his injury, I can't hesitate. I take off running, and before Raph could get off him, Shredder jumps up, sending him into me. I caught him, but never took my glare off of Shredder.

"Pathetic!"

I balance Raph, before I pull out my katanas and charged at Shredder.

"You leave my brother alone! Your fight is with me!"

"Oh, you aren't gonna attack me!"

He snaps his finger, and at once all the henchmen surrounded me. Ok, is it just me, or did they somehow know we would come here? Like...all of this was planned.

"You knew we would come here, didn't you?!" Raph snapped in the background as if he read my mind.

"Attack!" Shredder shouts as if he pretended to not hear him...which he probably did.

Everyone came towards me and I got myself focused so I can knock them all out. I think I'll take out Bebop and Rocksteady first because they are the easiest. No...Baxter Stockman is. I go for him first and the first kick I delivered, he was out. Ok, now it's time to beat Bebop and Rocksteady. I turned around, and my heart dropped. Raph was leaning against the wall and Tiger Claw and Fishface were gaining up around him. He doesn't show it, but I can tell he was in pain right now.

"Hey you two!" I shouted and they turn to me. "Your fight is with me, not him!"

"He wanted to fight, so I believe we're giving him one," Fishface said.

I look at Raph in surprise, anger, and concern. Surprised because he's willing to fight while he's this injured, angry because he's stupid enough to get more injured than he already is, and concern because he can be even more injured than when I had my back turned.

I forgot about my plan about taking Bebop and Rocksteady down first, and charged straight for Tiger Claw and Fishface. I kicked Fishface first, when really I should've gotten Tiger Claw. He threw Raph to the ground, and Raph tried shooting up, but nearly failed. He was gripping his sais and was glaring at Tiger Claw, but it wasn't as threatening as it usually was.

"Raph-!" I began saying.

"Go!" he shouts, cutting me off. "Get Bebop, RockSteady, and Rahzar. I got Tiger Claw!"

"You're insane! Absolutely insane! There is no way-!"

I was cut off by someone running into me, and I slammed into a wall.

"Leo!"

I sit up and looked to see Raph's rage face and began charging at Tiger Claw. Rocksteady was charging right at me, with Bebop behind him shooting his lasers. I shot up and began dodging Bebop's lasers. I felt a presence behind me, and knocked Rahzar out using a pressure point technique.

Before I could glance over at Raph, Rocksteady charges at me, and I move just in time.

"Yeehee!" Bebop shouts.

"I will squish your head like the blueberry!" Rocksteady says.

Idiot! Don't they know I'll beat them? Rolling my eyes, I wait until Bebop runs and I grab ahold of him and collided him with Rocksteady. Then I glanced over at Raph's fight and he was still on his feet, but his face was filled with pain.

"Pathetic!" Tiger Claw says.

Raph growls, and seems to be having a hard time trying to move. I take off running, and Tiger Claw kicks Raph's injured leg, and he's down. When Tiger Claw began to over come him again, I jump up and kick him in the head. Raph and Tiger Claw look at me and I glare at Tiger Claw.

"Ah Leonardo, finally decide to fight me?"

"Yes, and you're leaving my brother out of it! Me vs your!"

He faces me and holds up his katana.

"You're a brave one...and foolish if you think you can defeat me."

I gripped one katana and charged, and Tiger Claw did the same. We fought for a bit, and suddenly, I felt anger rush in me. He was the one who made Raph look injured, and Shredder is next.

Feeling the anger rush through me, I charge and kicked him so hard, he was knocked out. Ignoring Shredder's glare on me, I ran over towards Raph. He was struggling to get on his feet, but I put a firm hand on his shoulder. He looks up at me.

"Leo?"

"Are you ok?"

I know he's not, but I like to see what he says. He goes to speak, but his eyes widen.

"Leo, look out!"

I stand up and turn around, but I didn't react in time, and Rocksteady hits me hard and I flew into a wall like I was just hit by a bus. I groan and I try to get up, but my arms failed and I'm back on the ground.

"Leo!"

I look up to see Raph trying to stand and I could see the glare on his face. Then blackness began taking over...no, no, no! Not again! Raph is too injured to fight, and if I black out, who knows what'll happen to him. He can get more injured...or worse!

"You're gonna pay for that!" Raph shouts and he's on his feet...obviously favoring his uninjured leg.

"You too injured!" Rocksteady smirks. "I will squish your head like the blueberry!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before," Raph says.

Despite my fight against the blackness, I couldn't fight it anymore, and the last thing I saw, was Raph and Rocksteady ready to fight. Please Raph...please be ok.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: hey guys I just wanted to post the next chapter because I didn't feel like waiting until tomorrow so here you go...now to the reviewer**

 **yukio87: yes it's true that Raph is my favorite and I only injure him because he's the tough one and it's fun making him stubborn yet he struggles to fight on with the injury he has. This next chapter may surprise you of what happens but you have to read to find out**

 **anyway guys, I hope you enjoy and I own nothing of TMNT**

* * *

Raph's P.O.V.

I was surprised when Leo just ran straight over to Tiger Claw and one big kick knocked him out. Hm...weird. After a few moments, I hear running footsteps, and I tried getting up to show I'm not weak or injured. But it was probably too late because I feel a strong hand on my shoulder...probably so I won't try to get up or anything. I looked up to see Leo.

"Leo?"

"Are you ok?"

His eyes are full of concerned...and to tell you the truth, I'm not alright...but I can't show it. I can't show Leo that I'm not alright or it'll just take longer to get out of here. I go to open my mouth, but right behind Leo, Rocksteady was creeping up on him, and looking determined to hurt him or something. My eyes widen.

"Leo, look out!"

He jumps up and turns around, but he was too late to react, and Rocksteady hits him and he flies across the room and hits a wall. It must've been really hard because the wall cracks as he lands on the ground. I can tell he was trying to get up, but he fell back to the ground a few seconds later.

"Leo!" I shout.

I glared at Rocksteady and began trying to get up again. Despite my leg, I have to carry on Leo's fight. The only injury Leo's gonna walk out of here with is his arm.

"You're gonna pay for that!" I shout finally getting to my feet, and leaning on my other leg.

"You too injured!" Rocksteady smirks. "I will squish your head like the blueberry!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before," I say rolling my eyes.

I pointed my sais towards Rocksteady, and he was getting ready to fight too. My job right now is to ignore the pain in my leg, despite that every time I stand on it or get kicked, it feels like a sword is going through it a million times. I'll just wait for him to come at me and then I'll go from there.

We stood there for about a minute before Rocksteady charges at me. All I do is stand there and when he got close to me, I move out of the way and he runs into a wall.

"Heh, serves you right," I smirk.

All of a sudden, I feel a laser hit me, and the impact sends me a few feet and on the ground. Luckily, I didn't land on my bad leg. I looked up to see Bebop just looking at me.

"Come on you. Watcha gonna do?"

I shoot back up, and with my good leg, I kick him in the face. He stumbles backwards, and just glares at me.

"What?" I shrug. "You ask me what I was gonna do."

He charges at me again, shooting his laser, and I dodged everyone, making sure I never land on my bad leg. Then I started running up, and I try to ignore the shooting pain in my leg that's begging me to go down. I grabbed ahold of Bebop, and slammed him right into Rocksteady. They both let out a grunt and slammed right into the wall.

Then as I thought, Rahzar and Fishface come running towards me. I guess pressing that pressure point Leo did on Rahzar didn't last very long. They keep running, and whenever Rahzar went to strike me, I got to the floor and went right under him, and appeared on the other side of him. I glared as he turned around and charged at me.

I pointed my sai and tried running too. He took his sharp claws and aimed for my face. Unfortunately for me, he got me in the cheek. It stung, but it was absolutely nothing compared to my leg right now. I felt the blood going down my face, but I ignored it.

Thinking about that one time when Mikey got acne, and Rahzar's 2nd mutation, I stood at a stance and threw my sai at his hand.

"You think that'll do anything this time Raphael?" he smirks. "I'm not that stupid."

I said nothing. I only gripped the only sai that I clutched in my hand.

"What's wrong Raphael? Cat's got your tongue?"

"I think we should take care of his brother," I look over to see Fishface walking over and standing by Leo.

My eyes widen as I began limping and running over, but I felt someone tackle me to the ground. I struggle as I growl and quickly noticed it was Tiger Claw.

"Get off of me you oversized cat!" I shout.

"I believe you're right Xever," I hear him say. "And we should let Raphael witness it."

"I will do the honors," we hear Shredder and he comes in my view. "It may not be Hamato Yoshi, but at least I can let this one," he looks at me, "escape and tell him the news so he and his family will suffer."

"You do know you're not gonna kill him, right?!" I spat at him.

He walks over and kneels near me.

"You will witness your own brother die in front of you. You're lucky I'm letting you live, turtle!"

I growl as I kept struggling, and I felt Tiger Claw kick my injured leg, and I bit my tongue to avoid screaming. I began to collapse, but Tiger Claw gripped me hard enough, so that I wouldn't fall. Shredder then gets up and begins walking over to Leo.

"No," I whisper and began struggling again.

He picks up Leo, and my heart began pounding loudly against my chest. I knew struggling was pointless, but I was doing it anyway. Leo can't die on my account. As I struggled i felt something. It was this sudden burst of anger that I've never felt before, and it was at that moment that the pain in my leg suddenly disappeared. I never stopped myself from growling loudly.

"NO!"

My voice echoes off the walls and everyone looks at me. I growl as I manage to shove Tiger Claw off me and I shoot up.

"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM! YOU WILL DO NOTHING TO MY BROTHER OR SENSEI!"

And still my voice echoed off the walls, and for some reason my leg doesn't hurt.

"And what are you gonna do TURTLE?! You're injured and outnumbered!"

"That doesn't matter," I say softly at first. "I will destroy you."

Shredder only laughs. "I like to see you try turtle!"

That made me snap. I gripped my sais hard and charged straight at Shredder. I lead out a loud yell, as I jumped and kicked him with my once injured leg. My kick was hard and Shredder went flying towards the wall, and he dropped Leo in the process. Then he lets out a grunt and a bunch of bricks fell on him.

"Master!" everyone shouts.

Everyone glares at me and charged. I let out a growl and charged at them. The only thing I really remember from the fight was my fist in everyone's face, and Rahzar and Tiger Claw scratching me up. Even though I looked injured, I gave a bunch of injuries myself. Everyone around me was unconscious scratched up, and bruised.

I glanced over at Shredder to see he hasn't moved at all from the rubble. My breathing was ragged, but I have calmed down a bit to know what was going on around me. Then my gaze reaches Leo...yeeeea I should probably grab him and get out before everyone wakes up.

I go to run, when the pain in my leg comes back suddenly, except this time, it hurts 10x worse. I let out a loud grunt as I felt myself fall back to the ground. All of a sudden, my whole body began hurting, but mostly my leg...but I need to get Leo out. I struggle to get up, and when I went to lean on my uninjured leg, I felt myself fall back to the ground. My breath shakes as I struggle to get over to Leo the best I can.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: hey guys bad news this is the last chapter...nah I'm totally kidding but after this one, there will be two chapters left. I am working on the sequel right now, and I was wondering if you guys are interested in seeing a sequel. I also have deleted scenes for this story if you guys are interested in that too. Please let me know so I can work on them. Anyway, onto the reviewers**

 **yukio87: I'm glad to hear that Raph is your 2nd favorite character, and don't worry about Donnie and Mikey...they will be in this chapter and I was planning on putting them in anyway...actually you will see them first thing this chapter lolXD**

 **guest: (not in my reviews for some reason so I'm gonna put it here) ":l I can't even put it into words on how amazing this story is! You HAVE to update it like NOW!" Lol well I'm so glad you're enjoying this story and I'm updating it now so...I hope you enjoy this chapter**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoy and I do not own TMNT**

* * *

Donnie's P.O.V.

Mikey and I were running towards Shredder's lair. I just kept a look out for anything out of the ordinary. I'm pretty sure not ALL of the foot bots are at Shredder's lair doing whatever they're doing to Leo and Raph.

"Hey D?"

I stopped in my tracks suddenly, and felt Mikey bump into me. I gave him a slight glare, and he smiles sheepishly.

"What?" I asked after a few moments.

"Do you...do you think it's a good idea if we went and grabbed the party wagon?"

Now I'm really glaring at him, and by the look on his face, he probably thought that was a bad idea to ask...but I'm still gonna yell at him anyway.

"The party wagon?! Are you being serious right now?! Our brothers are stuck at Shredder's lair, and he's doing who knows what, and you're asking if we can go the lair and grab the party wagon?!"

"We might need it bro," Mikey says, his voice still calm. "What if they're injured?"

"We carry them on our backs...obviously."

"Everyone could be chasing us, and that can slow down the process. We can all end up getting captured dude...and then who'll save us? We probably wouldn't want Sensei getting into this mess...and I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want April or Casey in it either."

My eyes widen slightly. He does make a good point. We can get captured easily on foot than with the party wagon. Plus...I couldn't let my April getting in the risk of getting captured. Well Casey...what? Ok fine, we can't let Casey go in too I guess.

"Alright," I finally say, and Mikey gives a satisfying smile. "But we need to hurry."

We began running...no, more like sprinting back to the lair. Hopefully Splinter won't see us. We don't want our own Sensei to get captured as well as our older brothers. It seems forever before we reach the sewers.

"Come on!" I say. "Maybe we can sneak pass Sensei."

"Why pass Sensei?" Mikey stops, almost causing me to run into him.

"Leo and Raph are already captured. Do you want to take the chance of Sensei getting captured? I mean..."

"I get it bro. I understand."

We began running again and we began sneaking through the lair. For a few moments, I was expecting Splinter to walk out and stop us, but nothing happened. We ran into my lab, and the party wagon was waiting for us.

"Ok," I say. "I'll drive there, and if they're injured, you drive back so I can take care of their injuries."

"Sounds alright to me bro."

We go running to the party wagon and we both got in the front.

"Now when we get there, we have to be silent," I say to him.

"Understood."

I started the engine and began driving away. Don't worry guys, we're on our way.

Leo's P.O.V.

Uggggggh! Did you guys get the number of that bus? Stupid Rocksteady! Why must he be the one to knock me out? Gee...Raph would be so pissed off right now. Then my heart sank. My last memory was whenever he and Rocksteady were about to face off. Instead of hearing fighting noises, I hear absolute silence...and that scares me. I finally find the courage to open my eyes and the first thing I saw, was the ground. Then I slowly began to sit up so I wouldn't get dizzy.

I was expecting to find everyone gone, and Raph just laying there more badly injured than he already was, but what I saw surprised me even more. All of Shredder's henchmen were laying around the lair, looking bruised and battered, and there was a pile of bricks, and a hand sticking out of it. My eyes widen when I realized it was Shredder's hand. Did...did Raph do all of this? Did he fight everyone and somehow win even though he could hardly stand? I'm actually kind of impressed if he did.

Wait...where is Raph? I looked around and I spotted him about 15 feet away from me. I slowly got up, so I wouldn't get dizzy, and began walking towards him. As I got closer, I notice he was just staring at the ground, and breathing heavy. When I was close enough, I put my hand on my shoulder, and then next thing I know, he grips my hand, grabs his sai, and stands up, looking ready to stab me.

"Whoa, Raph! Calm down! It's only me!"

He looks at me, and the rage in his eye quickly went away, and lowered his sai.

"Leo I...I'm sorry. I thought you were one of the henchmen."

"It's ok. I shouldn't've startled you like that."

"I'm glad to see you're alright bro."

Me?! I wanted to shout that but I didn't. I just noticed the claw mark on his cheek, and there was dry blood on his claw mark and on his chin.

"I'm not worried about myself right now," I say. "I'm just worried about you. Are you ok?"

He lets go of me and leans on his uninjured leg.

"Yea, I'm-."

And then he tumbles to the floor, letting out a grunted scream. I quickly slid to my knees and he looked more in pain than he did before. That's when I noticed all the extra scratches and bruises he has before I even blacked out. I scanned around him, and my breath got caught in my throat. His leg looked 10x worse than it did before it was bleeding heavily and his bone was clearly showing, and it was defiantly out of place. What on earth happened when I was out?

"Raph...what...what happened? How did you beat everyone but still managed to get hurt?"

He looks up at me, and for the first time all night, I can see the real pain in his eyes and his face.

"They...they..." he mumbled the last part that I couldn't catch.

"What?"

He just shakes his head.

"Raph, come on tell me. You can tell me."

He just looks around and back at me.

"We need to get out of here."

It was almost as if he ignored my question, but he's right. We need to get out of here while they're still unconscious. I'll ask him what happened later.

"Alright," I nod. "But I'm gonna have to carry you again. There is no way you can even stand on that leg...even with your good leg."

"Uh...right bro."

I feel him slowly get on me and it worried me of how long it took for him to do it. Then I got up and began running out of the building. Somehow, I managed to get out without foot bots chasing after me. I reached outside, and was about halfway down the steps, when I felt Raph's hands slipping off my shoulders. I managed to notice in time and quickly turned around to catch him before he hit his head on the stair.

I began shaking him at first, softly telling him to wake up, but then I realized he's been in more battles than me and need the rest. Besides...if I run fast enough, I can reach the lair and take care of him in Donnie's lab. I began picking him up, and began running down the stairs again, when I felt a small prick in my arm. At first I thought it was the cut Tiger Claw gave me, but when I looked, I noticed it was a tranquilizer dart...oh no.

I quickly looked around and saw Tiger Claw walking out, still covered in cuts and bruises, with the tranquilizer gun in his hand. As much as I wanna argue and fight, it'll only be a matter of time before the tranquilizer dart takes affect and I black out...which really won't be good at all for Raph.

So I turn away and began running away as quick as possible. I can already tell that the dart was beginning to take affect because of the way my vision started to swim slightly. If I can get out of their sight and they can't find me, I can pass out and wake up in the same spot.

When I turned back around, all the henchmen were out. I shook my head as the tranquilizer got stronger. Come on Leo, just a little longer! I looked up, and my eyes widen when I see the headlights of the party wagon ahead of me. Man, am I glad Donnie and Mikey happen to come save us at the right time. The party wagon stops a few feet away from me, and Donnie comes out from the driver's side, and Mikey comes from the passenger.

"Leo!" Donnie shouts.

"Raph!" Mikey exclaims.

"Guys!" I say, and my vision started spinning more that I had to close my eyes for a second.

"Thank goodness we found you!" Donnie says. "We were worried sick something-."

"Dude, what happened to Raph?!"

That's when I realized Mikey was behind me. Donnie looks at me and runs behind. When they come back to face me, they looked at me for an answer.

"No...no time to explain," I say as I felt myself sway.

"Dude, you alright?" Mikey asked as I felt him grip my shoulder.

"Tiger...Tiger Claw shot me with a tranquilizer dart. They're...everyone is...is chasing me."

I shake my head to fight off the tranquilizer a little bit longer. All of a sudden, there was less weight on me and I quickly noticed that Donnie got ahold of Raph, and looked at Mikey.

"Mikey, you're gonna have to drive...like I said at the lab."

He nods. "Will do D."

"Please...hurry," I say and my body finally gave up fighting and I felt myself black out and my body falling.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: hey guys I know I'm early with this chapter and I wasn't planning on updating until tomorrow or Friday but school really hates me right now. I have 2 essays to type by next week and I have to study for a midterm algebra test that's on Friday and its the end of the semester this Friday too. I have a 4 day weekend, but like I said I have 2 essays to type up...one of them being a 5 page research essay-_-...I promise I'll try to get at least one chapter up this weekend. Anyway, enough about my life, lets get on to the reviewers**.

 **Yukio87: thanks for telling me it was a tranquil I didn't know what the heck it's called. Also you're in for a treat...this chapter was supposed to be a deleted scene, but I decided to put it in the story because it would make sense to the reader to know what on earth happened after Leo passed out.**

 **Guest: once again your review didn't show up so I'll quote it "NOOO CURSE YOU CLIFF HANGERS I SHALL GET REVENGE ON YOU ONE DAY...one day" hehehe well I can tell you that the cliff hangers will win every time MUHAHAHAHAHA...nah I'm just kidding...kindaXD**

 **anyway, enjoy this next chapter and I'll try my best to update this story,and officially start my new story "Shy but Deadly" (oc description is available for ch. 1 if you want to check it out) over the weekend. I own nothing of TMNT**

* * *

Mikey's P.O.V.

I was stuck in the passenger's seat as Donnie drives. He focuses on the road, and I glance around, looking for any trouble before or at Shredder's lair. They have to know we're coming by now and have foot bots waiting outside. Either that or there would be some sort of trap inside.

"Uh D...what would happen if we get caught?"

He doesn't look at me. "Don't say that Mikey. We're gonna get them out of there using ninja stealth."

"What happens if we do? Would Splinter have to come rescue us? He doesn't even know anything about this."

"Mikey!" he yells. "Just stop! We aren't gonna get caught! We're gonna get them out of there. You have smoke bombs, right?"

I feel my belt and realized I forgot to pack some.

"Uh..." I say then decided to lie. Uh...absolutely dude."

He sighs...knowing that, he knows I'm lying.

"Great! Looks like we have to be more careful than we thought."

We become silent and I looked out the window again. When I did, my eyes widen at who I saw. It was Leo running towards us, with Raph on his back.

"Dude, look!" I shouted. "There they are!"

Donnie glances over and then looks at me.

"Mikey, you're a genius! Looks like we don't need a plan after all."

"Like a turtle do bro!"

He rolls his eyes as he pulls to the side of the road. The party wagon stops a few feet away from Leo, and Donnie and I don't hesitate to get out and run towards them.

"Leo!" Donnie shouts.

"Raph!" I shout.

"Guys!" Leo says as he shakes his head slightly.

"Thank goodness we found you!" Donnie says and I began to go behind Leo to check on Raph. "We were worried sick something-."

"Dude, what happened to Raph?!"

Donnie looks at Leo and runs behind. Raph looked badly injured from head to toe. Then I noticed his leg...and I almost gagged.

"D, look!" I whispered pointing to his leg.

He looks and his eyes widen. "Holy chalupa!"

We came back around and looked at Leo, waiting for him to explain.

"No...no time to explain," he says as he began swaying.

"Dude, you alright?" I ask as I gripped his shoulder to balance him.

"Tiger...Tiger Claw shot me with a tranquilizer dart. They're...everyone is...is chasing me."

He shakes his head as if he's trying to stay awake a little bit longer. Donnie goes around to Leo's back and grabs ahold of Raph, and then he looks at me.

"Mikey, you're gonna have to drive...like I said at the lab."

I nod. "Will do D."

"Please...hurry," Leo says and then he began falling.

I came up and caught him on his way down to the ground.

"Annnd he's out," I say.

"No really?" D says sarcastically. "I didn't know that!"

I roll my eyes. "I didn't need the sarcasm dude!"

"Whatever let's just-."

"There they are!" we looked to see Tiger Claw a few feet away from us...and he looked like he was hit by a few buses.

"What on earth happened to Tiger Claw?" I ask Donnie.

"I know as much as you do," he tells me. "But that's not important! We need to get out of here!"

I put Leo on my back as D put Raph on his and we ran to the party wagon. After I helped put Leo in the back with D, I ran and got into the driver's seat. Tiger Claw and the rest had their motorcycles ready and looking like they were ready to come after us.

"Mikey, go!" Donnie shouts from the back.

I slam on the gas pedal and began driving away. When I looked in the mirror, they weren't even chasing us.

"Uh D...they aren't even chasing us."

"What? That's weird."

I nod. "Something's off though. I have a feeling they want us off guard."

"That makes sense."

I glance at the mirrors, and still no signs of anyone but the usual people who drive on the streets at this time of night.

"How're Leo and Raph?"

"Well Leo got deeply scratched in the arm. He has two deep cuts, but I can take care of that in a few minutes. Raph however...well, lets just say I need to pop his bone back into place.

I gag. "D!"

"Sorry, but it's true. Not to mention that he took a heck of a beating."

I was about to say something, when I hear the sound of a motorcycle. I glanced at the mirror to see everyone driving on the motorcycles, going at least 60 mph.

"Hang on D! We have company!"

I slam on the gas pedal again and we went so fast, that even I almost slammed my head on the seat.

"Uh D...how do we lose these guys?"

"My guess is to take an unexpected turn and go from there."

I nod. "Got it!"

I went faster, but everyone else wasn't that far behind. All of a sudden, I felt the end of the party wagon get slammed, and I fly forward a little.

"What the?!" Donnie shouts.

I looked in the mirror. "That makes no sense! They were just a few feet away literally a second ago!"

"Who cares?!" Donnie shouts. "We just have to lose these guys! Step on it!"

I slammed on the gas pedal even harder, but it didn't go as fast as I wanted it to.

"I'm giving it all she's got D!"

"Well be ready to do the unexpected turn at anytime!"

I looked around, and I noticed there were motorcycles beside me on each side.

"That might be a problem."

"Why?"

"There's people beside us!"

"Ram them! Do whatever it takes!"

"A-are you sure?!"

"Think about Leo and Raph! They need medical attention!"

"Ok I'll see what I can do!"

I look over to one and ram right into their motorcycle...but that didn't work because the next thing I know, they're on the roof.

"What the?!" Donnie shouts.

"They're on the roof! Now what?!"

I heard no answer.

"Donnie?!"

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking."

I was about to say something, when I watch Bebop jump in the party wagon, and I screamed as it startled me.

"Yeehee!"

He starts shooting lasers, and I tried pushing him out.

"Get out of here Bebop!"

"That's not my name!"

"Donnie!" I say as I lose control of the wheel and tried to grab it. "Help!"

He keeps shooting his lasers, and I have no idea how they miss me...but I'm pretty sure he's aiming for the wheel. All of a sudden, I see a Bo staff come into play and Bebop flies out the window.

"Thanks D!" I said.

"No problem! Now let's lose these people!"

"Someone's still on the roof though! I can hear them walking."

There was a silence.

"Slam on the brakes!"

My eyes widen as I glance back at him for the first time since we left.

"What are you crazy?!"

"Trust me!"

I look at the road again, and I took a deep breath and slammed on the brakes. Then I see Rahzar fly forward and slammed on the ground. Oh...now I get what Donnie meant by that.

"Now go!"

I slammed on the gas pedal, and Rahzar jumps up, ready to attack, when I looked in an alleyway. Using my amazing quick thinking, I made a sharp turn to the right, and the motorcycles either crashed or kept going straight. When we got through the alley, I made a right and Donnie and I were silent for a few minutes. When no one was behind us, we both let out a sigh of relief.

"That was...way too close!" I say, still feeling my heart pounding.

"I know," D says. "I thought we would never lose them. It was especially scary when Bebop jumped in here."

"I thought he was gonna hit me with his lasers, but then I realized he was trying to make me lose control of the wheel."

"Yea that was scary! I had to hit him out of here without missing or slamming my head into the wall...which took a while."

"But the important thing is dude, we made it out alive...barely."

"Yea, agreed."

"How're Leo and Raph? Did they get more injured during that chase?"

"No. I was hanging on to them most of the time with the one exception of getting Bebop out of the party wagon."

I nod. "Yea."

"Ok, get ready."

I pay attention to the road and our hidden garage pops up and then we're in the sewers. Once we're there, and made it to the lair, I stopped the party wagon, and began helping Donnie with Leo and Raph.

"Take Leo, I'll get Raph," Donnie says. "I'll get you a roll of a bandage and you can wrap Leo's arm."

"Ok," I say.

I grab ahold of Leo and Donnie did the same with Raph.

"By the way Mikey, you were right when you suggested the party wagon."

"Thanks bro, that means a lot."

"Now come on!"

...

A half hour later, Donnie comes out, and I stood up from the couch.

"Well?"

"Raph has a broken leg. I took me a little whole to put his bone back into place and-."

"Ok I get it! You don't need to explain it to me bro.

"How's Leo?"

I shrug. "He hasn't woken up yet. How long do you think it'll be before he wakes up?"

He looks into space as if he was thinking.

"Probably 2...maybe 3 hours."

I nod. "Alright...well it's late."

"Yea. You should get to bed."

I shake my head. "You should. You've had a long night in there. I can keep an eye on Raph. We can take the shift every few hours."

He stares at me for a few moments before he sighs.

"Alright fine, but if anything happens...wake me."

I nod. "Will do bro."

"Good night."

"Night bro."

He leaves and then I go into the lab.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: hey guys quick note before you begin. There is only one more chapter after this so this will be nearly the end of Protection...but not the series. I am currently doing a sequel so if you are interested, please let me know. Anyway onto the reviewers.**

 **yukio87: it is a good thing Donnie and Mikey were there to save their brothers or else what would happen. Anyway, unfortunately after this one, it's the last chapter. If you are interested, I am currently writing a sequel that involves more of the foot clan but I'm not saying what it's about just yet.**

 **guest: "you are an amazing author! For many reasons like, you put in a lot of detail but not to much, you capture the characters personality perfectly, and you update fast!" Awww well I'm glad you feel that way...I was worried that I didn't have the characters in character at all. Also the reason why I update fast is because I wrote this story a while ago and make a few minor changes before I update.**

 **Anyway guys, I hope I'll be updating the final chapter Sunday or Monday. If you are interested in a sequel, please let me know. Anyway, enjoy:) I own nothing of TMNT**

* * *

Leo's P.O.V

I moan as I slowly open my eyes. My vision swims for a minute, but then it clears. I look around, and found myself on the couch, covered by a blanket. The memory quickly rushes through me. Donnie and Mikey must've gotten us back to the lair...but why am I on the couch? Shouldn't I be in my room or something? Hm, weird. Then I quickly felt something tight against my arm. I looked to see there was a bandage on my arm...oh right, Tiger Claw scratched my arm during one of the fights.

Then my mind sets on Raph. Was Donnie able to fix him? Well...there's no doubt Donnie's in his lab right now. I slowly get up from the couch and felt a little groggily for a moment, but then got right to walking. I slowly peaked my head in, and see Donnie typing on his computer, and I didn't want to see Raph's condition right now. So I just walked in, and Donnie must've heard me, because he stops typing and turns to me.

"Oh Leo...you're finally awake. That tranquilizer must've lasted long than I thought."

"How long was I out?"

He glances at the clock. "Well...you've been out since a little bit after 12, so I say at least 10 hours."

"What?! Thought that would've lasted for 2 hours."

"Me too bro."

"Where's Mikey?" I asked after a moment.

"In bed. It's been a long night for all of us. We've taken shifts. Mikey's been watching Raph until 3, and then I've taken over sense."

"You've only gotten 3 hours of sleep...and haven't slept since then?"

"Had to let Mikey get his sleep."

"You need sleep too Donnie."

I finally had the courage to glance over at Raph, bit I didn't get a chance to see what condition he was in at the moment.

"Has he woken up yet?"

"Yea, some time during 3am. He woke up was saying his leg was in pain. He told me what happened in Shredder's lair. He also said..."

He trailed off as if he wasn't supposed to say something.

"What?" I ask.

"It's nothing important."

I cross my arms. "Donnie..."

"Raph said he wanted to be the one to tell you."

I sigh. "Alright. But...how is Raph?"

Donnie glances over to Raph and then back at me.

"Well, his cuts and bruises will probably heal in a few days...maybe a week. But his leg is defiantly broken. His bone was so out of place, I had to take my hand and push against the bone until it was back into place...which took a few minutes. Then I-."

I wince at the image of Donnie doing that. "Ok Donnie, I get it. How long will it be until his leg heals?"

"I say 6-8 weeks. He won't be able to patrol with us...but if all goes well, he can slowly go back into training probably in 4-5 weeks."

"Oh..." was all I said and I glanced down.

"Leo-?"

"This is all my fault!" I blurted out, causing Donnie to jump back a little.

"It isn't your fault."

"Yes it is!" I shout glaring at him. "All of this is my fault! I was supposed to protect him, and now look at the condition he's in!"

I glanced back at Raph again, and saw the condition he was really in. There were bandages covering him and something on his cheek I couldn't make out. But what really almost got me, was the giant cast on his leg.

"Leo," Donnie says and I look back at him. "No one thinks this is your fault. Raph doesn't think this isn't your fault, Mikey doesn't think this is your fault...I don't even think it's your fault. In fact...I was the one who suggested we split up in the first place."

"You can't blame that on yourself Donnie. None of us knew any of this would happen."

"You should tell yourself that," Donnie said like this was a set up. "You did everything you could to protect him, and he protected you too. In fact, if he was alone, he could still be in there. He can't stand or walk, but you managed to help him out of there...even though he was probably stubborn."

I nod. "He was."

"The point is, you weren't the one who hurt Raph. If you want to blame someone, blame Shredder and his henchmen. They were the ones who did this to him, not you."

I sigh. "I...I guess you have a point there."

He nods and then I could tell he was trying to stifle a yawn.

"Donnie, you should go get some rest. I'll watch over Raph."

"I'm alright Leo," he said.

I shake my head. "Remember the time Splinter got really sick? You blacked out on me and YOU got sick. Remember that?"

"Of course I do Leo, but-."

"I don't want it to happen like that again bro."

We both just stared at each other before Donnie sighs.

"Alright fine. But if anything goes wrong, get me ASAP...if he wakes up...well I'll let you decide."

"Ok."

He goes to leave, when I stopped him to ask one more thing.

"Quick question."

He turns to me. "Yea?"

"If Raph woke up, why do you have to keep an eye on him?"

"You know how stubborn he is. He'll probably try to walk and hurt himself more."

I nod. "That is true. Alright...go get some sleep bro."

"Alright."

And then he walks out of the lab. I looked over at Raph and pulled up a chair and sat next to the table. His breathing was even and his face looked relaxed. He honestly looks much more relaxed in this state than he did hours ago when he was awake. I don't care what Donnie says, it's my fault...even if I wasn't the one who hurt him, I failed to protect him.

"Hey Raph," I say, even though I know he can't hear me. "I know you're gonna be alright but...I'm sorry. I'm sorry this happened to you because of me. I should've been the one who would be laying on that table right now not you," I glanced at my arm. "I don't deserve to have a minor scratch from Tiger Claw. I deserve to be the one who is injured. It's my job to protect you and..."

I stopped when I felt the tears about to come out. I clenched my eyes shut and I managed to not cry. If Raph happened to wake up and see me cry, he would never let me live it down.

An hour later, I was trying to keep my mind busy, but nothing seemed to be working. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and I punched the nearest thing close to me, and it makes a loud noise as it hits the ground. I stand there breathing heavy for who knows how long, before I hear a voice.

"Leo?"

I turn around around to see Raph staring at me, and that's when I realized that stupid decision caused him to wake up. Ugh!

"Oh...hey Raph," I say as I walked over and sat in my chair. "Sorry if I woke you up."

He shakes his head. "No I had to wake up sometime soon. What time is it?"

"Like 11:30."

"Oh...how long have you been awake?"

"Huh?"

"Donnie told me you got shot with a tranquilizer dart. You alright?"

Seriously? He's asking ME if I'm alright?!

"I'm fine. I've been up for an hour so."

"Oh...are you sure you're alright?"

I looked at him, and there was concern in his eyes.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: hey guys I have good news and bad news. Let's start with the bad news...this is the last chapter of Protection. However, the good news is there will be a sequel. If you are interested in reading it, it will be called Ambushed, but what it will be about, I'm not revealing until it is officially published. Anyway guys, I wanted to thank you guys for reading and supporting this story. I wasn't expecting anyone to read any of my stories when I got my account, but you guys are awesome and made that happen. Anyway, onto the reviewers.**

 **Yukio87: I feel like you will enjoy this last chapter. Even though it's the final chapter, the intense level is high and won't calm down until the very end. This is what I meant when I said Leo would be injured in a different way. Raph is physically injured, but Leo is mentally injured. Anyway, thank you for reviewing every chapter...I really appreciate it and I hope to see more of your feedback in the sequel.**

 **Guest: "can't wait for the next chapter, Raph's going to be so stubborn and try to get out of the lair. I can just picture it! I honestly feel stupid because I posted that review and I totally forgot you were thinking of posting a sequel, I would love to read a sequel to this story it's so good!" Well thank you for your feedback and yes I am planning on writing the sequel. Thank you for your feedback and I hope you enjoy this last chapter.**

 **anyway guys I hope you enjoy the final chapter of Protection and keep a look out for the sequel:) I own nothing of TMNT**

* * *

Raph's P.O.V.

I was getting well deserved rest after having to stay up an hour last night while Donnie decided to keep checking up on my leg...well actually I was able to sleep after my leg decided to stop being a pain in the butt long enough for me to sleep. Grr...stupid Shredder!

All of a sudden, I hear something crash to the ground, and my eyes shot open. I look over to see Leo's back turn to me, and he was breathing heavy. Guess the tranquilizer finally wore off.

"Leo?"

He turns to me and just stares at me.

"Oh...hey Raph," he walks over to me and sat at a chair next to me. "Sorry if I woke you up."

I shake my head. "No I had to wake up sometime soon. What time is it?"

"Like 11:30"

Not surprised by that time actually.

"Oh...how long have you been awake?"

"Huh?"

"Donnie told me you got shot with a tranquilizer dart. You alright?"

He stiffens slightly as if I just asked the wrong question.

"I'm fine. I've been up for an hour so."

Something else is bugging him...I can see it in his eyes. Besides...I just heard him knock something over.

"Oh...are you sure you're alright?"

He looks at me, and I just stare at him, waiting for an answer. It was a few moments before he answers.

"I'm ok Raph, I promise."

"Then why are you lying?"

Now I can just see anger in his eyes.

"Why on EARTH do you think I'm lying?! I'm perfectly fine Raphael!"

"Well you don't sound ok to me!" I shout back.

"Well I am! Just leave me alone, ok?!"

"No! Something is bugging you! Now tell me what it is!"

"You better shut up Raphael, or things aren't gonna be pretty!"

I don't care what he says, I'm gonna get something out of him.

"You're a coward, that's what you are!"

And then he glares at me like it can kill me.

"What did you say?!"

"You just always want to be the perfect one don't ya?! Nothing is ever wrong with you isn't it?! Well, I think you're a coward if you can't even stand up to your own feelings!"

His face softens a little, but it didn't last long, and the hard glare comes back.

"That's it!"

He grabs my arm, and yanks me off the table. I landed hard on my shell with a grunt.

"You have absolutely no right to call me a coward!"

I struggle getting up, and when I do, I have to stand on one leg.

"I believe I do!"

He charges and tackles me to the ground. I made sure my uninjured leg took the hit. Then I grab ahold of him and slammed him to the ground. He grunts and I went hopping to the crutches Donnie has in the corner. I grabbed one, and decided to use it as a weapon. He ran towards me, and I hit him with the crutch that I was gripping.

Unfortunately that only made him more angry. He grips the crutch, and kicks me in the stomach, sending me to the ground. Then he put a stern foot on top of me and raised my crutch, looking ready to bring it down. I knew there was no way out of this one, so I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. I waited a few moments, but the blow never came.

Confused, I opened my eyes, to see the horrified look on Leo's face. He takes his foot off me and just stared at me, dropping the crutch in the process. Then he squeezes his eyes shut...and right then, I knew what he was trying not to do. He was trying to be strong and not cry in front of me.

"Raph I...I'm sorry I..."

He turns his head away from me and I just sit up.

"I don't know what came over me."

I struggle to get up, and I feel Leo help me up and put my hand over his shoulder. Then he helps me back to the table. He was avoiding eye contact while I was giving him a look, hoping to get some answers out of him.

"Leo."

He just looks up, and his eyes looked glassy. I guess it's my turn to comfort him. I spread my arms out and he just stares at me.

"Alright come here. I know you want to bro."

He just stares at me for a few moments before I feel him slam into me and started crying on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he whispers in between sobs. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

"It's ok bro. Just let it out."

I'll let him let it all out, and then let him explain why he blew up in my face. It's not like him to be that angry at someone like that...that's more like my thing. I kept an eye on the door to make sure neither Donnie nor Mikey were watching. Man, they would never let me live it down.

It must've been a few minutes before I feel Leo pull away from me, and wiped his eyes. I could tell my shoulder was wet, but that was the last thing on my mind at the moment.

"Feeling better bro?"

"A little..."

"Good. Now...is there something you want to get off your chest?"

His eyes harden again, and knowing what's gonna happen, I just groan.

"So you only made me feel better so you can ask me that?! What is wrong with you?!"

"I'm just concerned. You aren't acting like...yourself."

"I'm perfectly fine!"

He swings his fist, but I caught it before it hit me in the face. Then he yanks it out of my grips, throws his head back, and groans.

"Dang it Raph! I'm sorry, ok?!"

"Just tell me what's bugging you."

"It's just...back at Shredder's lair...I failed to protect you. I failed you, I failed our family...I even failed myself. It was my fault you're like this and..."

"Well that's a bunch of bull crap!" I shouted louder than I intended it to be.

"What?"

"It isn't your fault of what happened at Shredder's lair. You did everything you could've done. Although...if you have to blame someone, blame Shredder. He's the one who did this!"

"But Raph-."

"I don't wanna hear it. It's not always your job to protect all of us. We all look out for each other and that's that."

He just keeps staring at me.

"Besides, the worse I got is a broken leg. I'm gonna be fine."

He looked like he was gonna say something, but looked like he changed his mind. But then he spoke.

"Donnie mentioned to me that you said something to him that you wanted to tell me...and you were trying to say something back at Shredder's. Uh...what was it?"

Oh crap, I'm busted! Why did I tell Donnie about what Shredder was gonna do to Leo?! I should've let Donnie explain it. It's bad enough he's already feeling bad about not 'protecting' me. I don't need him to feel bad that Shredder was going to-.

"Raph?"

Then I thought of an excuse to get me out of this mess.

"I was losing a lot of blood Leo. I had no idea what I was talking about...and with Donnie, I was half awake."

He crosses his arms. "I'm not buying it Raph. I would've known if you were delirious."

Maybe pretending to be in pain will help. I make a hopefully convincing grunt as I grip at the cast.

"Ow! Stupid leg is bugging me again. It almost feels like Donnie didn't put that stupid bone back into place."

I clinched my eyes shut, just waiting for Leo to tell me to forget about what I was gonna say.

"Raph," his voice sounded stern, and I knew he wasn't buying it either.

I open my eyes and he just has a stern look on his face. I could try slipping off the table, but one my leg would hurt even worse, and two Leo probably won't buy it either.

"Come on Raph, it can't be that bad."

"You aren't gonna like the answer bro."

"Raph, just tell me."

"Leo-."

"TELL ME!" he snaps.

"Shredder was gonna kill you!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

I slapped my mouth as Leo's eyes widen. Why am I such an idiot?!

"Wait what?!"

I said nothing.

"Why didn't you tell me this?!"

"You were already blaming yourself for everything, and I didn't want to make it worse."

"How did that happen?!"

"He was saying he was gonna...you know...and...and I just lost it. I lost it and I beat everyone up. It was almost as if I couldn't control myself. I think that's how I hurt myself more...it wasn't them Leo, it was me! Only me, understand?!"

I just looked away in anger. I just started talking in a normal voice..and now the memory only makes me angry.

"Raph-."

"Shut up!" I shout. "Just shut up! You thought you were having a hard time! You hardly got injured! I had to protect you! I couldn't let them kill you! And you know what?! I'm done! I'm done with all of this!"

I jump from the table, but I felt him catch me. I completely forgot about my leg...grrrr!

"Raph, just calm down. You're just gonna hurt yourself more. It isn't your fault at all."

Then it hit me and I calmed down a bit.

"Then you should tell yourself that."

"Huh?" he asked as he helps me back on the table.

"You tell me it wasn't my fault, and it wasn't your fault either. In fact if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't've been able to get out of there alone. You did everything you can."

"You telling me that this was a set up."

"Uh...yea it defiantly was."

No, not really. But it was enough to make Leo smile.

"Thanks...for trying to snapping me out of it."

You're welcome."

We pull into another hug, and I see Mikey smirking at the door with his phone out. Then I growled.

"Mikey!"

Leo pulls away and looked at the door.

"Awww you guys moved!"

I growl. "Mikey, you're lucky I can't walk or your head will be through the wall! Just wait until I get back into training!"

"Well you aren't!"

I growl, and Leo looks at me.

"You want me to tackle him for you?"

"Yes!"

He smirks. "Alright."

And then he goes after Mikey.

"Hey Leo! No fair!"

I watch as they run out of the lair, and I smirk. I can't wait until I get back on my feet.


End file.
